metrovideogamefandomcom-20200214-history
Bourbon
''Dead City 1 (Level) '''Bourbon (Бурбон in Russian Cyrillic) is a trader, drifter, survivor, criminal, and adventurer, rolled into one man. He is a seasoned professional whom has seen everything the Metro and Surface have to offer, and then some - and who has lived to tell the tale. The two meet in Riga, which is on security lockdown due to a recent Anomaly and a particularly large infestation of Nosalises in the tunnels nearby. History with Artyom Bourbon and Artyom form an unsteady alliance; whilst Artyom ponders Bourbon's true motives, Bourbon, in a surprising turn of events, turns out to be quite on-the-level. The deal is simple: if Artyom helps Bourbon get to Dry Station to pay back an old friend of his, then Bourbon will give Artyom his Kalash. Bourbon's true motives and actual name remain unknown. Bourbon does not believe in the supernatural and dismisses Ghosts, Anomalies, and psychic phenomenon as nothing but distractions of the mind. The two cover a lot of ground, from Riga to Market Station, and through the frozen wastes of downtown Moscow, during which Artyom and Bourbon face down many obstacles, including a psychic phenomenon brought on by the Dark Ones, a nest full of Bandits that ambushed a convoy headed for Hansa, and Howlers and Demons. Throughout all of this, Bourbon, despite his coarse demeanor, constant cynicism, and sordid past, takes a paternal and guiding attitude with Artyom, teaching him the basics of stealth assaults, avoiding traps, seeking out Ranger supply caches, the dangers of water on the surface, and of methods for circumventing foes. The two become seperated for a time, but Bourbon waits at a checkpoint for Artyom. He is later surprised when Artyom arrives, the trek having taken Artyom quite a while and Bourbon fearing the worst. Eventually, the pair, fleeing Howlers and Demons, arrives in Dry Station, where Bourbon quietly stashes his gear with Artyom and goes to meet with his old friend in Dry. Unfortunately, Bourbon's friend - the old boss of the bandits - has been displaced, and replaced with one of his former subordinates - one who holds a serious grudge. Bourbon is beaten and dragged off by the brigands. Artyom attempts a rescue, aided, in secret, by Khan, who quietly snipes several enemies in the bandit hideout. When he arrives in the Leader's room, Bourbon is being interrogated. Bourbon takes advantage of the chaos to throw the leader backwards, and to protect Artyom, he fires a revolver on the Bandit leader, hitting him in the neck. The Bandit leader, however, at the same time, grabs a Kalash and shoots at Bourbon; piercing his abdomen. Both Bourbon and the Bandit Leader die. Artyom laments his death in the following chapter, when heading through the tunnels with Khan. Personality and Character Notes Bourbon is the stereotypical bastard with a heart of gold. He owes a lot of money to a lot of people, a clear history with a group of bandits, and knows how to handle himself in a fight. In a sense, he comes across as someone who ran with the brigands and (at least tried to) go legit; his supportive nature of Artyom and attempts to tell Artyom about the various threats they face seem to stem from Bourbon trying to show Artyom the ropes. While this may initially be dismissed as self-interest on Bourbon's part, the truth of the matter becomes more apparent as you go further into the game; Bourbon is genuinely impressed with Artyom's ability to handle himself and his will to survive. Bourbon does, indeed, make good on his original deal to give Artyom his AK-74 at Dry Station - if you turn around in the duct, the weapon will be waiting for Artyom to collect if he wants it. Even in the end, as Bourbon faces off against the Bandit Leader, his first instinct is to protect Artyom, indicating that he shows a genuine bit of care for him. He is referred by the Bandits as "Bourbon the Huckster", which implies that he was a trader of low quality, high quantity goods - a form of wholesaler for shoddy merchandise, and that he has done business with them before, possibly why he may have become in debt with this particular group of Bandits. Khan appears to also have a history with Bourbon; his dialogue hints that he knew of Bourbon, and of Bourbon's apparent attempt to go legit. He refers to Bourbon's death as "Regrettable, but not entirely unexpected," indicating that while he suspected this would be Bourbon's fate, he perhaps saw the decency in the man's final moments - or perhaps Khan knew more than he let off. Regardless, Bourbon is a character who is a major driving force for a good part of the game, and reveals himself to be good-hearted, if shady and with a clearly gritty past. The advice he gives Artyom is sagacious and will serve him the entire game - and likely beyond. Trivia *Bourbon refers to his Kalash as an AK (AK-74), this would be the only time in the game someone would refer the Kalash as an "Avtomat Kalashnikova", even though its clearly an AK-74 everywhere else it is always refered to as a "Kalash" (It was renamed due to copyrights). *If the player silently kills the Bandit he first encounters instead of Bourbon, Bourbon will still act like he killed him. *On Dead City 1, if the player runs ahead and tries to jump across the ledge with the car on it, he will hit an invisible barrier and fall into irradiated water. *There is a bug with Bourbon upon arrival at the next settlement, The Market, it is unknown what causes it, but sometimes he will freeze and won't speak to the player, leaving the game until to progress. It could possible be due to running ahead of Bourbon to the market before he's finished talking and gave The Player money to purchase Gas Filters. *In the game, Bourbon is more sympathetic than he is in the book (in the book it is implied that he planned to kill Artyom after passing through the dangerous tunnels, rather than paying him). *In the book, it claims that Bourbon is only a bit older than Artyom. *At the bar in Riga, while Artyom is being congratulated by the other survivors from Exhibition after fending off the Nosalises, Bourbon can be seen sitting at the bar counter. He walks out during the second toast, glancing briefly at Artyom as he passes. *In Russian version of the game Bourbon uses a heavy mixture of Russian criminal, jail and obscene slangs, and sings out 'Vladimirsky Central' (popular between russian criminals) instead of 'Soldatushki', an old Russian soldier's song. -in Riga while Bourbon is moving the box in front of the door, his automatic shotgun has a bayonet and at dry it disappears. *in the book the agreement was 2 clips (60) worth of ammo and some food supplies, Bourbon then decides to give Artyom his AK before he died. * in the book Bourbon starts to say a paragraph starting with "I am dead" he then just becomes weaker then collapses and dies leaving Artyom alone to be rescued by Khan * In the first station, Exhibition, there is a man who looks very similar to and has the same voice as Bourbon. He has a different jacket on, although he wears the same black beannie. He is located in the market section of the station, across from the weapons vendor. He is sitting at a table talking to a man about how he prefers to travel alone, or with one other person. The man then says, however, that he would want many others with him when he went in the tunnel between Dry station and Cursed station. Category:Characters